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Report: Dr Who

For 25 years, Doctor Whos creaky charm captivated a nation. Now Russell T Davies has polished it up, with slick effects and an even slicker script. But will we  and the anoraks  love it just the same, asks Bryan Appleyard

“Oh, you know, ‘The people of Planet Zog are being fought by the Zognauts...’ I don’t give a toss. I go through Radio Times, reading the billings of these shows — ‘The crystals of Narthok are in danger from the blah blah blah’ — and I don’t care. The audience is so much more intelligent than that. I won’t have dumbing-down for a second.”

Travelling down to some studios in Wales, I had been vaguely wondering why the BBC had suddenly decided to remake Doctor Who. I learn the answer as soon as I walk into Unit Q2, Imperial Park, Newport. It is standing in front of me, babbling fluently and, I slowly realise, brilliantly. It is Russell T Davies, chief writer and executive producer, and previously writer of Queer as Folk and some of the best children’s television shows. Without this camp, chortling, verbal torrent, this encyclopedia of schlock TV, this